One more hill to climb

I'm back.  I'm here.  I'm rounding the final turn towards the finish line of my summer-long work/school/run/move quadrathlon, and I am more than ready to collect my medal, collapse on the couch, and drink a tall glass of chocolate milk.

Anyway.  It is hard to get back to writing when you haven't done it in a while, you know?  I had a good rhythm going before my hiatus, all the ideas in my head easily coursed down my arms and out through my typing fingers. That part of me has been shut down, turned off, since July out of necessity. You cannot crank out page after page of case analyses riddled with corporate jargon and acronyms while also trying to harness your creative thoughts.  They are not compatible pursuits for me, they are separate lives of mine that fight over my body and time.  School is over now, though, and since one advanced degree is all I aspire to attain in this life, I am officially turning off the lights and hanging up the "closed" sign.  My formal education is complete.  I am free.

Forgive me if I'm rusty and appear to be chasing my tail here for a while.  I need to remember how to use this space the way I used to, the way that fortifies my soul and help me process life and connect and all those glorious things.  I'll get there.

For now I am focused on the last big event lined up for my summer: the Long Beach Marathon on Sunday, 10/12.  Training for a marathon initially seemed like a crazy decision.  When I started a new job and found out I would have to take two classes over the summer, it seemed like a downright stupid decision.  I plowed ahead anyway, and looking back, I accept that it was the best decision I could have made.  There were days when the 5am wakeups and long runs in the summer heat sucked, but there were many more days when the endorphin rush and sense of accomplishment after a hard effort were all that stood between me and complete stress-induced meltdown.

I'll be back next week with a race report, and hopefully with regular new content and a fresh blog design going forward.  Until then, go check out Mixed Space, a blog created by the Multiracial Americans of Southern California (MASC).  I'm honored to have one of my posts up on their site.

Till next time, friends.

What have you been up to this summer?  Anything new and exciting to share?